Paul Lambert owes a debt of thanks to Alex Stephens: "He was a fantastic man, a big part of my football development." (Image: Getty Images)

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THERE are things you don’t appreciate about your upbringing until you’re man enough to understand them.

One of those is realising just how much people gave to you without ever expecting anything in return.

Sadly for Paul Lambert, that dawned too late for him to say a proper thank you to the man who set him out on one of Scottish football’s greatest journeys.

Rarely a day passes, though, when the values the late Alex Stephens instilled in him don’t surface in his life.

Which is why the Aston Villa manager sees it as an honour to be this year’s high-profile patron of the McDonald’s Sunday Mail Grassroots Awards.

The chance to give something back, to appreciate that without the diligence and dedication of an army of volunteers across the country who provide the game’s backbone, there IS no football.

The chance to say thank you.

Without him? Without his influence? Does the odyssey which began on the red ash at the back of Brediland Road in Linwood and hit its zenith with the European Cup above his head in Munich’s Olympic Stadium even happen?

The Scottish Cup winners’ medal as a teenager at St Mirren, the 40 Scotland caps, playing in the World Cup Finals, a season in the Bundesliga, the nine trophies won with Celtic, captaining them in a European final.

For every headline an icon like Lambert earns in his career there will be a man like Alex Stephens hidden in the subtext, unheralded.

Paul Lambert won four titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups with Celtic

MailSport, in association with McDonald’s and the SFA, have spent more than a decade unearthing unsung heroes like him – and Lambert would love to see more of them in the spotlight.

He said: “Linwood was a town that had been hit hard when I was a kid but Alex Stephens did so much for our community. And I’m not just talking about football.

“His commitment to the game and the people was unbelievable. He was a policeman and everyone knew him. You look back and you think ‘Jesus, how did he do it all?’

“I’ve played in the World Cup, won a European Cup and when you take it all back to basics you have to feel grateful a guy like him was there for you.

“You don’t appreciate it at the time. It’s only when you get older and have kids of your own that you look back and realise how much they gave you.

“You say ‘Thank God they were there when I was growing up.’ And you apply the same standards now as a manager you got when you were young. You treat people the way you liked to be treated.

“You get nowhere without hard work and if people have these values and that commitment to the game, and they have humility like Alex had, you try to hold that close to you wherever you go.

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“If he was still around there’s no doubt he would have an honour at the back of his name for his service to the community.”

Stephens formed Linwood Rangers in 1971 – five years later he opened the door to a scrawny kid who would become their poster boy for generations to come. These days they’re still a burgeoning club and he was a leading light until he passed away a decade ago at 62.

Lambert said: “The saddest thing was I never got the chance to say thanks to him before he died. Sixty-two is no age at all, I was shocked when I heard he had passed away.

“He was a fantastic man, a big part of my football development. I began playing for Linwood Rangers under him at Under-8s and he took us right through. He also ran my school team at Mossedge Primary and a brilliant five-a-sides competition every year that me and my mates always entered. He was a major part of me going to St Mirren at 12 as well.”

Stephens’ story will be familiar to every parent and kid ever involved in sport in Scotland. Time, heart, discipline, commitment and a shoulder to lean on – the traits a volunteer dedicates to EVERY kid, not just superstars-in-waiting.

Lambert said: “Alex did everything for us. Picked us up, took us to games, took us home, took us to tournaments in places like Grimsby, Cleethorpes. He had great discipline for us as well.

“He kept us on the straight and narrow and even in our early teens when you can go astray a bit he kept us all into our football.

“We used to train with St Mirren one night a week when Ricky McFarlane was manager. Alex would take us there, watch us, be with us, take us back home – he was a fantastic man and got on well with my parents.

“Him being a policeman, everyone had a wee bit of fear there too. He used to do the beat in Linwood, walk around the streets we lived, and I appreciate it so much that he was a big part of my growing up.”

Lambert still values his roots in football. Despite the plush surroundings of Villa’s training base he’s convinced too many excuses are made for kids not to play since the demise of the street football culture he grew up with.

He said: “I lived on Brediland Road in Linwood and we’d play other streets all the time, it was great. We used the pitches at the sports centre just over the back.

“That’s been taken away from kids, society’s different, but we use that as too much of an excuse. If you want to play football enough there are still places to do it.

“We played on red ash 20-odd years ago but it didn’t stop us. It was a great grounding.”

Lambert’s grounding in life – and in sport – came, as it so often does, in the family home.

He said: “My dad played when he was younger, he was briefly at Celtic as a kid and went to Bradford, and my mum played netball so I’ve got their sports genes! They encouraged me to keep playing football and chase my dreams.

“Parents are the instigators in what path you want to go down – but it needs other people to keep you on that path and we should always be grateful they’re there.”